Shadowrun FAQ/Walkthrough

by The_Key_of_E Updated to v1.0 on Feb 13, 2013

This walkthrough was originally written for Shadowrun on the GENESIS, but the walkthrough is still applicable to the SNES version of the game.

Version 1.0, 2/12/2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction - [xintro]
2 Getting Started - [xstart]
A Choosing Your Joshua
B The Saga Begins
3 Building Up Your Runners - [xbuild]
A Abilities
B Skills
C Cyberware
D Spells and Magic Items
4 Picking Your Team - [xteam]
A Shadowrunner Descriptions
B Recommended Growth
5 Running the Shadows - [xruns]
A Shadowrun Types
B Fetch Runs
C Kill Missions
D Matrix Runs
E Corp Runs
F Getting the Most Money and Karma From Your Runs
G Upgrading Your Cyberdeck
6 So the Story Goes - [xstory]
A Quick Walkthrough
B Side Quests
1. ***** INTRODUCTION ***** [xintro]
Shadowrun is one of my favorite games of all time. I never played it when it
first came out on the Genesis. Instead, I first played it on PC in the late
'90s when emulation started becoming popular. It has incredible replay value
for a game that's almost 20 years old. This is not a full walk-through or
detailed guide. This is more of a short strategy guide with my opinions on
gameplay. This guide is most helpful if you've already played through the
game once, but can still benefit you even if you've never played before.
For a full guide, check out the wonderful FAQ by Eller at
http://www.gamefaqs.com/genesis/366854-shadowrun/faqs/12296.
It can also be found on the Shadowrun Wiki at
http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Shadowrun_(Sega).
2. ***** GETTING STARTED ***** [xstart]
A. CHOOSING YOUR JOSHUA
The difficulty in the game is balanced around having a balanced party of a
Samurai (combat specialist), Mage/Shaman (magic user), and a Decker (matrix
specialist). Choosing which archetype, or “class” to make Joshua is a big
part of this. While you can play with an unbalanced party, and it doesn't
necessarily make the game any harder or easier, it is still expected that
you'll have a balanced party.
It seems to me the game is intended for you to start as a Samurai, at least in
your first play-through. This gives you the best survivability during the
first hour or two of the game until you can spend some Karma and buy better
equipment. Also, there is only one NPC Samurai available to hire at the be-
ginning of the game while all the NPC Deckers and Mages/Shaman are available
from the start. In addition, being able to customize your abilities and cyber-
ware any way you want makes you more versatile than an NPC Samurai, and means
by the end of the game Samurai Josh will easily be your best character.
The close second choice would be Shaman. You should have at least one spell
caster in your party and having Joshua be that caster definitely has its
benefits. NPC spell casters have a bad habit of switching spells in the
middle of combat and often choose their weakest attack spell. They will
almost always choose spells over guns, even if their Firearms skill is higher
than Sorcery. Playing as Shaman Josh circumvents these limitations. (This
assumes you control Joshua most of the time. If you choose to control your
NPC Mage/Shaman most of the time, these limitations naturally don't apply.)
Soloing the game can also be a fun challenge, and in my opinion the Shaman
is the archetype best suited for that.
The last choice is of course Decker. This is not because Deckers are bad, but
simply because two of the three NPC Deckers are really good. Decker Josh's
Computer skill starts out pretty low, and it will take some time and Karma
to improve it to the point where you can actually hack systems. It's much
easier to hire Phantom or Rianna and have them be your dedicated Decker
(they're both decent in gunfights, too). There's also the issue that you
don't NEED a dedicated Decker. I like hiring a Decker for the long term, but
you can just as easily hire a Decker for the short term, farm some cash from
the Matrix, then hire someone else.
It should be noted that there is less difference between the Samurai and
Decker. With the right cyberware and skills, the Decker can become as strong
as the Samurai, though he doesn't start out as strong. With enough Karma
spent, the Samurai can become a strong Decker as well, but expect to spend a
long time building up said Karma.
B. THE SAGA BEGINS
If you've already played through the game at least once, you know you have to
start by doing milk runs from Gunderson. It should only take about 6 runs to
afford Michael's stuff. If you get attacked by Halloweeners during this time,
it's usually easier to run than fight.
Once you've paid for your brother's stuff, you should buy an Ares Predator
heavy pistol. The 500 nuyen you find in your brother's stuff, plus the sell
price of your starter pistol is often enough. It's cheaper to take a taxi to
the Renraku Arcology and buy your new gun there than to buy it in Redmond.
I prefer to do milk runs for a while longer. With your whiz new pistol you
should now be able to handle yourself against Halloweeners. I will often hire
Ricky for the short term. He's cheap and you can keep doing Gunderson runs
(except Ghoul Hunting) for as long as you want without him leaving. His Flame
Bolt spell is only Force 1, but still strong enough to handle gangers.
As stated above, this first bit of the game is easiest as a Samurai, since
your Body and Firearms both start at 4 instead of 2. You have to be a little
more careful as a Decker or Shaman.
3. ***** BUILDING UP YOUR RUNNERS ***** [xbuild]
Before too long you'll have some decent Karma and can start improving your
runner(s). Have a plan before you start improving. Know what you need to
improve and try to decide an order in which to improve it.
A. ABILITIES
Pay attention to your Attack Speed and Combat Pool (both hidden attributes).
Attack Speed is the average of Quickness and Intelligence (rounded down) and
reduces your recovery time between attacks. Combat Pool adds to your attack
or defense. It is determined by adding Quickness, Intelligence, and Wisdom,
then dividing by two (rounded down). So to optimize both Attack Speed and
Combat Pool, try to keep your Quickness, Intelligence, and Willpower so they
add up to an even number.
Changing the Posture in your character screen determines how much Combat Pool
is added to attack or defense. For NPC runners, it also affects their
behavior in combat. For the character you are actively controlling, you can
set your posture how you like, but for your two other characters you will
want to set their posture to Mid-Offense so they contribute more in combat.
Try to get Body to 4 or better ASAP. This helps your survivability immensely
in the early parts of the game. Once it is at 4 or 5 you should be fine for
a while, though you'll definitely want to max it (6 for most characters) by
the end of the game.
Quickness is good because it adds to movement speed as well as attack speed
and combat pool. This makes Quickness more important than Intelligence,
except for Deckers. By the end of the game, both Quickness and Intelligence
should be maxed out for all characters.
Willpower is the primary attribute for mages and shaman, since it determines
their drain resistance. It should be improved early to allow for higher Force
spells. It's less important for mundane (non-magical) characters since it
only adds to Combat Pool.
Strength is only important for melee characters. In general, only Samurai
should be using Melee (except for Walking Bear who starts off pretty good
with fisticuffs). If you like melee, have your Samurai max his/her Strength
early. If you don't care for melee, you can wait until later to improve
Strength, or ignore it altogether and focus on Firearms instead.
Charisma has several uses. It's primary use is talking your way out of
trouble when stopped by Lone Star or corp security. It is also the biggest
factor in lowering hiring costs for NPC runners. I like to get it up to 5
ASAP, then max it to 6 when I can. Only Joshua's Charisma affects hiring
prices and only the Charisma of your currently controlled character is used
to talk your way past trouble. In general, it's more cost efficient to only
improve Charisma for Joshua rather than all characters.
There are ways to circumvent the need for a high Charisma. If you don't mind
paying more to hire runners (or plan to solo the game) you won't need
Charisma for that. You can bypass corp security by buying badges from Max
for $6,000. They're expensive and I don't usually use them. Contrary to what
Max says, the badges do last for more than one run (though how long is not
yet determined) and so they can be worth buying. There are several ways to
ignore Lone Star. You can avoid pissing them off in the first place by not
using illegal weapons and not killing random people. You can ally with the
Mafia (which pisses off the Yakuza) and Lone Star will leave you alone. You
can purchase illegal weapon permits from Henry J. Culver for $8,000, and he
can also delete your Lone Star record for $2,500. So basically not improving
Charisma means you will need to spend more money to make up the difference.
B. SKILLS
In my opinion, everyone should improve their Firearms skills, though a Mage
or Shaman with good combat spells could skip it. For a Samurai, whose main
purpose is combat, I improve their base Firearms skill rather than picking a
specialization. That way they can switch to a different gun type when needed.
For Deckers and spell casters I just pick one specialization to focus on.
I've found that 4 or 5 in the skill is enough for much of the game, though
you'll want to improve it to 7 or 8 by the end. More than 8 doesn't provide
much benefit since you can already kill anything quickly and easily. Which
specialization you choose is a matter of personal preference, but there are
obvious advantages to each choice.
Pistols are the most well rounded. Heavy pistols have both good power--which
affects armor penetration--and good damage. They also aren't illegal like the
other weapon types. The Predator has high ammo capacity and is the most
efficient weapon in the game. The Warhawk has better power (armor
penetration) but horrible ammo efficiency. Pistols can also be silenced,
which prevents setting off alarms inside corp buildings, and can be upgraded
to improve accuracy (laser sight gives +1 to hit, smartlink gives +2).
Overall, pistols are good for anyone, though stick to heavy pistols instead
of light ones.
SMGs fire three shots at once, but each shot is weaker compared to a heavy
pistol. This means you can mow down low level enemies like gangers and ghouls
but will have a harder time penetrating the armor of corp security guards.
None-the-less they are still effective weapons. Like pistols, they can be
silenced and smartlinked. You also NEED a gas vent system on your SMG or else
your shots will be too inaccurate. The cost of upgrading plus the high base
price of SMGs means you can't pick one up right at the start of the game.
Shotguns are a very mixed bag. They have the highest damage of any weapon,
but fire more slowly than Pistols and SMGs. The Allegiance has the highest
power available (matching the Warhawk) but eats through ammo, while the
Streetsweeper carries more ammo but has lower power. They are very powerful
weapons but can't be customized. This means no laser sights or smartlinks and
no silencers or sound suppressors. You can't take them into corporate buil-
dings because one shot will set off the alarm, and the loss of accuracy from
no laser sight or smartlink cancels out the increase in damage. Overall I
would say the drawbacks (no customization, slower rate of fire) cancel out
the benefits (higher damage) and so there's no advantage to using a
Shotgun.
Sorcery, naturally, is only usable by spell casters. Most casters start with
3 Sorcery. Try to improve that to 5 as soon as you can, then improve it from
there at your leisure.
Melee, as noted above, should be restricted to Samurai, except for Walking
Bear who starts out with a good Melee skill and decent Strength. If you
really like punching people, improve it early and often. Otherwise, save it
for later, or ignore it altogether. Melee does have the benefit of con-
serving ammo, but running out of ammo is really only a problem at the very
beginning of the game.
Throwing, in my opinion, is a mostly useless skill. The advantage of
grenades is being able to hit multiple enemies. The disadvantages are that
enemies don't always clump up, you may hit yourself or your teammates, and
grenades are expensive and take a lot of inventory space. I feel the dis-
advantages far outweigh the advantages. I don't like the Area of Effect
spells for the same reasons.
Computer is a funny skill in that the minimum needed is only a little lower
than the maximum recommended. Even for easy Matrix runs, you really need a
minimum Computer skill of 5, but for the hardest Matrix runs, you only need
a Computer skill of 7, maybe 8. So in other words, once your Computer is at
5 or 6 you can farm easy Matrix runs until you have the nuyen to upgrade
your cyberdeck. Once your deck is upgraded, you can start farming mid-level
or hard Matrix runs for even more cash. Not only do you get Karma from
completing runs, but you also get a little bit of Karma from crashing ICE,
so you can improve your Computer to 7 or 8 no problem. I recommend not
playing as Decker Josh and instead hiring Phantom or Rianna, because they
start with their Computer skills at 5 and 6, respectively.
Electronics is similar to Computer in that the minimum needed is only a few
points lower than the maximum recommended. You need a minimum of 4 in the
skill to be effective, but don't really need more than 6. It has two uses,
hacking security terminals and unlocking maglock doors. The former use is
arguably the more important one, since you can use security terminals to turn
off alarms and cameras and also discover which floor to look on. For easy and
medium corp runs, Electronics plus a Tool Kit will get you through most
doors, but for hard corp runs (which are always against Renraku) you'll want
to buy a maglock passkey (Alesandro Hobbs sells a Rating 5 for $20,000). I
usually have my Decker improve his/her Electronics, since all four Decker
characters (Joshua included) start with ranks in the skill.
Biotech is great because it improves the healing done when you use a medkit,
and 4 to 6 in the skill should be plenty. I usually have my Samurai improve
his/her Biotech skill, though most Deckers start with points in the skill as
well.
Reputation is only important for Joshua. The reputation of any NPC runners
doesn't matter. You need 4 Rep to get into Club Penumbra, 5 Rep to meet gang
bosses without paying extra, and 6 Rep to get into Icarus Descending at all
or get into The Matchstick without paying at the door. More than 6 doesn't
have any real benefit, since the only thing it does is slightly affect the
hiring price of NPCs. Because you can get into Icarus Descending if you have
an elf in your party, the minimum Reputation needed to complete the game is 4
(to get into Club Penumbra).
Lastly, we have Negotiation. As stated in its description, it affects
shadowrun payments and buying and selling. It also affects hiring prices for
NPC shadowrunners, though as with Reputation the increase is very small. 5 or
6 in the skill is usually enough. More than that costs too much Karma
compared to the benefits you get. I usually have the spell caster in my party
increase their Negotiation, because when buying spells or magic items, the
mage/shaman must be the one to purchase the item, and it helps if their
Negotiation is high enough to lower the purchase price. It appears that only
Joshua's Negotiation affects shadowrun payments, so if I'm not playing
Josh as a Shaman, I'll still increase his Negotiation some while also
increasing Negotiation for my NPC mage or shaman. This is a skill you will
want to increase early so it makes a bigger impact over the course of the
game.
C. CYBERWARE
These are just my opinions on what Cyberware to buy and why.
For Samurai, I usually pick up Wired Reflexes x2, Muscle Replacement x2,
Spurs, Smartlink, and Cyber Eyes. Wired Reflexes significantly increases
your attack speed. With level 2, you'll be attacking about twice as fast as
normal, and there's the benefit of the second level only costing 1 Essence
instead of 2. Since Muscle Replacement increases Strength it's naturally
going to be useful for Melee combat, and the Quickness increase adds to
movement speed, attack speed, and combat pool. Spurs basically just change
your punches from Stun damage to Physical damage, so are great for Melee.
Smartlink is an obvious choice since it gives you +2 to hit with smartguns.
I only get the Cyber Eyes because there's not much else you can get with
only .3 Essence left. I pass on Dermal Plating because if you have good
armor then 6 Body (or more in Marrs' case) is enough to resist most attacks
in the game. Besides, you know the saying, “The best defense is a good
offense.”
Deckers get a similar set-up. I pick up Wired Reflexes x2 and Smartlink, for
the same reasons as above. All Deckers need a Data Jack (and indeed, they all
start with one). The three NPC Deckers all have their Quickness max out at an
odd number, so I take one level of Muscle Replacement to make it an even
number which improves attack speed, movement speed, and combat pool. I take
two levels of Dermal Plating because it appears to help resist Black ICE
attacks (even though it's not supposed to). With the remaining Essence I
usually get Cyber Eyes as above, or maybe Spurs if I ever expect my Decker to
use melee.
D. SPELLS AND MAGIC ITEMS
I get every caster a strong single target spell (Flame Bolt or Mana Blast)
at the maximum force they can cast without drain, plus Invisibility at
Force 5-6 and Heal Wounds at Force 4-5. Any spells beyond that are
superfluous, as I haven't found many of them to be terribly useful. If your
caster wants to focus on Firearms, you can skip the attack spell, but be
aware that the computer likes to switch them to their weakest attack spell
instead of guns.
I haven't used magic items a lot because they are so expensive. They also
take up a lot of inventory space, preventing you from picking up loot to
sell. They're fairly self explanatory, though.
Spell Foci add their rating to the corresponding spell's force, thus
improving success rate, effect, and in some cases duration. I never use them
because, as stated above, most spells aren't that useful. You can't buy Foci
for the all-important single target attack spells, and while you can buy
Foci for Invisibility and Heal Wounds I don't think they're necessary.
There are also Power Foci that are supposed to add their rating to ALL
spells. You can buy a rating 2 from Gregory Wilns for $50,000 and a rating
4 from the Yakuza boss for $80,000, though the latter actually only adds +3
instead of +4. Also, preliminary tests seems to indicate Shaman Josh gets
less bonus from Power Foci, gaining only +1 from the rating 2 and +2 from
the rating 4.
Protection Talismans add to your armor, reducing incoming damage. A high
rating talisman added to good armor can make you nigh invulnerable. Only
spell casters can use talismans, which balances the fact that they can't get
Dermal Plating (though the protection talisman is far more expensive than
cyberware). I don't think the talisman is worth the price because there just
aren't enough high power enemy attacks in the game to make it worth-while.
Lastly there are Combat Sense Spell Locks. They add their rating to your
Combat Pool (explained above in the ABILITIES section), and can either be
added to offense or defense depending on your Posture. This item makes up
for the fact that casters can't get Wired Reflexes or Muscle Replacement
(though casters wouldn't really benefit from Wired Reflexes anyway – the
spell casting animation is so slow that you might not notice any increase
in attack speed).
4. ***** PICKING YOUR TEAM ***** [xteam]
When hiring runners, their price is determined by Joshua's Charisma times
two plus Reputation and Negotiation, the higher the better.
Charisma x2 + Negotiation + Reputation
NPC runners also have a hidden Attitude rating affecting how much they like
you. If you successfully complete runs, they like you more. Fail runs or kick
them out of the party and they like you less. If you plan on hiring a runner
for life, try hiring them for the short term twice and completing two quick
runs first. This will make them like you more and dramatically reduce their
hiring price. This will save you a lot of money in the long run. Complete two
more short term runs and their dialog changes to indicate that they like you
a lot.
A. SHADOWRUNNER DESCRIPTIONS
Ricky – Dwarf Shaman
Ricky is the first runner available. He doesn't have much going for him, but
he's cheap. I recommend hiring him for the short term in the beginning of
the game. He will stick with you as long as you keep doing easy escort and
delivery missions for Gunderson. His Flame Bolt spell is only Force 1 but
it's still strong enough to fry Halloweeners in two hits. Sadly, his Rat
totem makes him worse at Attack spells, which limits his long-term potential,
but he's better at Deception spells like Invisibility. If you choose to keep
him for the long term, he improves nicely with a little Karma and cash spent
on him. One upside to him is his Wisdom maxes at 7 instead of 6, giving him
better Drain resistance than other spell casters.
Beginning Rating: 2
Long Term Potential: 8
Winston Marrs – Troll Samurai
Marrs is the only Samurai available at the beginning of the game. This makes
him a good choice to pick up if your Joshua isn't a Samurai himself. Being a
Troll means his Body and Strength start higher than other runners, and he
can improve them to ridiculous levels (11 and 10 respectively). The downside
is his Quickness, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma suffer (though his
low Charisma isn't a big drawback because you shouldn't shouldn't be im-
proving his Charisma anyway). One other downside is his specialization in
Shotguns. Since shotguns can't be silenced, they make corp runs tougher since
he risks setting off alarms if he shoots. You also can't upgrade accuracy on
shotguns. I recommend improving his base Firearms skill and giving him a
pistol or SMG instead of his shotgun. Despite his drawbacks, he's a very good
runner to start with and has loads of improvement potential.
Beginning Rating: 5
Long Term Potential: 10
Trent Delisario – Human Mage
Trent starts out pretty weak, similar to Ricky. However, he improves quickly
and seems like a better option than Ricky (he also isn't short and ugly). As
a mage, he has one extra inventory slot because he doesn't need to carry a
Totem. He also earns style points from me for his classy hat and overcoat.
He will give you Prof. Jefferson's number for free if you ask him about
contacts. With good growth potential, he's worth keeping if you hire him
early and build him up.
Beginning Rating: 2
Long Term Potential: 9
Petr Uvehr – Dwarf Decker
The cheapest Decker available, but not even worth his low price. His 2 in
Computer is useless, since you would need to spend a lot of Karma to improve
that to 5 before you can complete even simple Matrix runs. I've played
through the game with every runner and found Petr to be the worst overall.
Beginning Rating: 1
Long Term Potential: 7
Walking Bear – Ork Shaman
She's the mid-level spell caster available for hire. She's pretty pricey but
has decent stats and spell selection. She has Strength and Body bonuses for
being an Ork, but her Intelligence and Charisma suffer as a result. She has
a Heal Wounds Focus and also gets healing bonuses from her Bear Totem,
though you can probably sell the focus once you've upgraded her Heal Wounds
spell rating. Overall a pretty good runner, though I think she's a bit
overpriced and she gets overshadowed by Freya.
Beginning Rating: 5
Long Term Potential: 9
Phantom – Elf Decker
The mid-level Decker available. He's fairly expensive, but worth the price.
His Computer skill starts out at a decent level, and he also has Electronics,
In addition, he's good in a fight with a decent Pistols skill and Wired
Reflexes 1. He wears a classy hat and trenchcoat like Trent does. I like to
hire him for the long term because he improves nicely, but you can also hire
him for the short term to do a couple matrix runs, then switch to Rianna
later.
Beginning Rating: 6
Long Term Potential: 10
Ilene Two-Fists – Human Samurai
You can't hire Ilene until you've rescued her from Hollywood Correctional as
part of the test to join the Sinsearach. The way I play, this usually
doesn't happen until 2/3 through the game or later, at which point she's
usually not worth hiring. You can get her earlier, though, by talking to
Caleb Brightmore early on and being to told to find Frosty. You'll either
have to walk through the Salish-Shide wilderness (which is dangerous for
weaker runners and it's easy to get lost) or have Sharkey fly you there
(which is expensive). Either way, you have to make a focused effort to get
Ilene. You can usually get Stark at around the same time, and he starts out
a lot better than she does. The upside is Ilene is more customizable than
Stark, and thus has more growth potential.
Beginning Rating: 6
Long Term Potential: 9
Freya Goldenhair – Elf Mage
Freya is the best spell caster available, but also ridiculously expensive.
She starts with decent stats, good Sorcery and Pistol skills, high
Negotiation, and a great selection of spells. Her Hell Blast Spell Focus
makes an otherwise useless spell actually cool and fun to use since one
casting can fry a whole band of enemies. Be careful, though, because you'll
burn through Fetishes as fast as you burn through enemies. If you hire Ricky
or Trent in the beginning and don't plan on keeping them for the whole game,
upgrade straight to Freya.
Beginning Rating: 7
Long Term Potential: 9
Rianna Heartbane – Elf Decker
Phantom's counterpart, she starts out with higher stats and skills than him.
She's also the most expensive runner available. It's debatable whether she is
worth her high price-tag or whether it's better to build up Phantom. Her
biggest downside is her 1 Body. This makes her less effective in a firefight
and she'll probably get fried the first time she faces Black ICE. I
recommend improving her Body to 3 ASAP, and buying some Dermal Plating
(which is not supposed to protect against Black ICE, but does). An interest-
ing note: if you get her to like you enough, her hiring dialog changes so it
seems like she has a crush on you. Freya also seems to crush on you, but not
as hard as Rianna.
Beginning Rating: 7
Long Term Potential: 10
Stark – Human Samurai
Stark was your brother Michael's best friend. He's not available until
you've rescued him from the Salish-Shide wilderness and given him a new
heart. Once he's healed, you can hire him for free. He starts out with great
stats and skills, and comes fully cybered. However, this can be a downside
because his cyberware choices are questionable. He has 3 levels of Dermal
Plating which is probably more than you need. He also doesn't have a Smart-
link, and his Smartgoggles are really only as good as a laser sight. Overall,
he starts out really good but has no growth potential. I used him the first
couple times I played through the game, mostly because he joins for free, but
have passed on him in subsequent play-throughs.
Beginning Rating: 8
Long Term Potential: 8
B. RECOMMENDED GROWTH
The following charts list what I think you should be aiming for when
improving your characters. I list the starting rating and the recommended
maximum. Total Karma is how much Karma it takes over the course of a full
play-through to reach these recommended levels. I also note the expected
price of fully kitting out your characters with Cyberware and Spells, based
on what they start with. You can get discounts at the magic shops to reduce
spell prices and you can join the Yakuza to reduce cyberware prices at Little
Chiba.
SAMURAI
Name Joshua Marrs Ilene Stark
Start Max Start Max Start Max Start Max
Body 4 6 7 9 5 6 5(8) 6(9)
Quickness 3 6(8) 2 5(7) 5(6) 6(8) 6(7) 6(7)
Strength 4 6(8) 5 8(10) 6(7) 6(8) 5(6) 6(7)
Charisma 1 6 1 1 3 3 3 3
Intelligence 2 6 2 4 5 6 6 6
Willpower 4 6 3 5 4 6 5 6
Sorcery
Firearms 4 8 2 8 4 8 6 8
Pistols
SMGs
Shotguns 4 4
Melee 4 7 4 7 6 7 5 7
Throwing 2 2 1 1 2 2 3 3
Computer
Biotech 1 5 0 5 3 5 5 5
Electronics
Reputation 1 6 3 3 5 5
Negotiation 1 3 4 4
Total Karma 248 198 113 68
Cyberware:
Wired Ref x2 40k 40k 20k 0
Muscle Rep x2 20k 20k 10k 0
Smartlink 1.5k 1.5k 1.5k 0
Spurs 3k 3k 3k 0
Cybereyes .5k .5k .5k 0
Total Nuyen 65k 65k 35k 0
DECKER
Name Joshua Petr Phantom Rianna
Start Max Start Max Start Max Start Max
Body 2 6(8) 4 7(9) 3 6(8) 1 6(8)
Quickness 5 6(7) 3 5(6) 5 7(8) 7 7(8)
Strength 2 2(7) 3 3(4) 3 3(4) 3 3(4)
Charisma 2 6 2 2 3 3 5 5
Intelligence 4 6 4 6 6 6 6 6
Willpower 3 6 3 7 4 6 6 6
Sorcery
Firearms 2 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
Pistols 4 8 4 8
SMGs 0 8 4 8
Shotguns
Melee 1 1 1 1 1 1
Throwing
Computer 3 7 2 7 5 7 6 7
Biotech 2 2 2 2 3 3
Electronics 1 6 3 6 3 6 5 6
Reputation 1 6 1 1 3 3
Negotiation 2 3
Total Karma 250 180 135 86
Cyberware:
Wired Ref x2 40k 40k 20k 0
Muscle Rep x1 10k 10k 10k 10k
Dermal Plat x2 6k 6k 6k 6k
Smartlink 1.5k 1.5k 1.5k 0
Cybereyes .5k .5k .5k .5k
Total Nuyen 58k 58k 38k 16.5k
MAGE/SHAMAN
Name Joshua Ricky Trent Bear Freya
Start Max Start Max Start Max Start Max Start Max
Body 2 6 4 7 2 6 6 8 3 6
Quickness 4 6 2 5 3 6 3 6 5 7
Strength 1 1 3 3 2 2 4 4 3 3
Charisma 2 6 1 1 2 2 1 1 5 5
Intelligence 3 6 3 6 3 6 3 5 5 6
Willpower 4 6 4 7 4 6 5 6 5 6
Sorcery 3 8 3 8 3 8 4 8 5 8
Firearms 2 3 2 3 1 1 3 3 1 1
Pistols 2 7 6 7
SMGs 0 7 0 7 0 7
Shotguns
Melee 1 1 2 2 1 1 4 4 3 3
Throwing
Computer
Biotech
Electronics
Reputation 1 6 2 2 2 2 4 4
Negotiation 3 6 1 6 2 6 0 6 4 6
Total Karma 243 203 194 173 115
Spells:
Flame Bolt 5 15k 14k 15k 15k 0
Mana Blast 6 0 0 0 0 15k
Invisibility 6 21k 20k 21k 21k 15k
Heal Wounds 5 14k 15k 12k 12k 5k
Total Nuyen 50k 49k 48k 48k 35k
Optional Magic Items:
Power Focus 2 50k
or Power Focus 4 80k
Protection Talisman 4 35k
Combat Sense Spell Lock 4 56k
5. ***** RUNNING THE SHADOWS ***** [xruns]
A. SHADOWRUN TYPES
All shadowruns in this game fall into 4 main categories. There are “fetch”
runs which include both Courier and Escort missions. There are “kill”
missions which include Ghoul Hunting and Enforcement missions. There are
Matrix runs, of course. And lastly there are corp runs, which include
Extraction and Retrieval missions.
B. “FETCH” RUNS
Courier and Escort missions both work the same. You go to point A, pick up
either a person or a package, take him/it to point B and get paid. The only
difference in Escort runs is you have to keep the client alive, but this is
not difficult. The first 10-20 minutes of the game will always be doing easy
fetch runs, and you may come back to them later as they are a quick source
of Karma. The Ork Armband from the ork gang will get you free cab rides. Get
it before trying the Medium runs, otherwise cab fare will cut into your
profits.
Easy Courier and Escort: from Gunderson
Pays 35-55 Nuyen, 1 Karma per run.
Locations are always in Redmond Barrens.
Medium Courier and Escort: from Mortimer Reed and Julius Strouther
Pays 180-200 Nuyen, 1 Karma per run.
Locations are all over.
C. “KILL” MISSIONS
Kill missions obviously mean you have to go and kill someone (or something).
They're the only kinds of runs that REQUIRE violence (all other runs
actually go more smoothly when you DON'T have to shoot anybody).
Ghoul Hunting missions involve going into a ghoul infested building and
killing the blue-skinned beasties. In the higher level version, you may face
other creatures like wendigo, gargoyles, and hell hounds but only ghouls
count towards completing the run. These runs can be pretty tough at the
beginning of the game, but by the middle of the game become pretty easy.
However, they take a long time to get the maximum 20 kills and so aren't
always an efficient source of cash.
Enforcement missions require you to beat down a gang on their home turf. The
Johnson has some issue with one of the three local gangs and asks you to
“discuss” the matter with them. In every case, you will be attacked by four
or five gang members. If your team is prepared with decent guns and armor
the fights are quite easy.
Easy Ghoul Runs: from Gunderson
Pays 10-20 Nuyen per kill, up to 20 kills. 1 Karma per run
Location is always in Redmond Barrens.
Medium Ghoul Runs: from Mortimer Reed
Pays 30-50 Nuyen per kill, up to 20 kills. 1 Karma per run
Locations are all over.
Enforcement Runs: from Mortimer Reed, Julius Strouther, and Vigore & Jarl
Pays 180-200 Nuyen, 2 Karma per run (1 from Vigore & Jarl)
Orks are in Puyallup Barrens, Halloweeners in Redmond Barrens, and
Eye-Fivers in Penumbra District.
D. MATRIX RUNS
All Matrix runs require you to jack in to the Passcode the Johnson gives you
and perform some task. Usually this involves finding a Data Store and
downloading, uploading, or deleting a file. Occasionally they'll ask you to
crash the CPU instead. While jacked in, you are able to view Run Details
which will tell you the exact Node to look for. Often you are able to
download data without completing the run, then sell said data to Roscoe the
Fixer in Downtown. You can then jack back in to the same Passcode and do it
again. This is what I meant when I mentioned above about farming cash from
the Matrix. You should have 5 Computer or so before trying even easy Matrix
runs, while 7 Computer is usually enough even for Hard runs. See section 6-F
for tips about upgrading your cyberdeck.
Easy Matrix Runs: from Mortimer Reed and Vigore & Jarl
Pays 400-500 Nuyen, 2 Karma per run (1 from Vigore & Jarl)
Runs are always against small unnamed systems.
Medium Matrix Runs: from Caleb Brightmore, Julius Strouther, Vigore & Jarl
Pays 2400-2600 Nuyen, 3 Karma per run (2 from Vigore & Jarl)
Runs are usually against large unnamed systems, but occasionally against
Gates Undersound or Club Penumbra.
Hard Matrix Runs: from Caleb Brightmore and Vigore & Jarl
Pays 6000-6200 Nuyen, 5 Karma per run (4 from Vigore & Jarl)
Runs are always against corporate systems, such as Mitsuhama, Fuchi,
Renraku, and Lone Star.
E. CORP RUNS
Corp runs are the most complicated type, but can also be the most fun to do.
There are two types, Retrieval and Extraction. Both require you to sneak
inside the target corp's building, which happens automatically when you enter
the front door. Once inside, Retrieval runs require you to check wall safes
to find a package and return it to Mr. Johnson. For Extraction runs you have
to find an employee and smuggle him out. Extraction runs are slightly harder
because of the chance of the employee dying in a firefight and yet pay
slightly less. If you are well prepared, corp runs can be quick, easy, and
profitable. If you are not well prepared, they can be very difficult and tend
to drag out.
While inside, you'll need a way to avoid guard patrols, and the Invisibility
spell at a decent Force (4+) is probably the easiest. You can also purchase
corp security badges from Max the Fixer. I've mentioned it above, but you
need to use silenced weapons to avoid setting off alarms. Fists and spells
work great, too. You also need a way to get through doors, either a maglock
passkey or an electronics kit with a high skill rating. Easy runs mostly have
rating 2 maglocks, which are easy to pick. Medium runs still have some rating
2 locks, but a lot more rating 3 and 4 doors that are harder to pick. Hard
runs (which are always against Renraku) have almost all rating 3-5 doors, and
you should seriously consider a rating 5 passkey unless you want to raise
your Electronics skill to 8+. Even if you do buy the passkey, you should
still have 5-6 in Electronics so you can hack security terminals.
You can also hack the Matrix while inside corp buildings. If you find the
right Slave Modules, you can turn off cameras, maglocks, and alarms. (You
can also turn off elevators, but why would you want to?) Naturally, you can
also snag some data to sell later. The problem is, even the easy corp runs
have hard Matrix systems. You have to have a high enough Computer skill and
strong enough cyberdeck to handle hard Matrix runs, making this method
pointless on easy corp runs and of questionable use on medium ones. Also,
unless you have the corporate systems memorized, finding the right nodes is
terribly time consuming, and you run the risk of setting off the Matrix
alert which also sounds the alarms in the real world. So hacking the Matrix
inside corp buildings is an alternative to having a high Electronics skill,
but in my opinion is less viable.
It's important to know the difference between security terminals and Matrix
terminals. The latter look like computers set into the wall, while the
former look like two Matrix terminals right next to each other. Matrix
terminals are scattered about pretty liberally, while there is usually only
one security terminal per floor (and none on the first floor of Renraku).
Easy Corp Runs: from Mortimer Reed and Julius Strouther
Pays 450-600 Nuyen, 2 Karma per run
Runs are against Fuchi or Mitsuhama.
Medium Corp Runs: from Julius Strouther, Caleb Brightmore, and Vigore & Jarl
Pays 900-1500 Nuyen, 4 Karma per run (3 from Vigore & Jarl)
Runs are against Ares or Lone Star
Hard Corp Runs: from Caleb Brightmore and Vigore & Jarl
Pays 3500-4500 Nuyen, 6 Karma per run (5 from Vigore & Jarl)
Runs are always against Renraku
F. GETTING THE MOST MONEY AND KARMA FROM YOUR RUNS
Overall, Matrix runs are the easiest way to make money. Completing Matrix
runs nets you a lot of cash, but you'll also want to download some pay-data
while you're jacked in. You can then sell that data to Roscoe the Fixer, and
will often make more from selling the pay-data than from the run itself.
Sometimes you can even log in repeatedly to steal more data without actually
finishing the run. Later in the game, you can get passcodes to the large
named systems, letting you log in to them without taking a run.
You get Karma from completing runs, obviously. You also get a little bit of
Karma from killing people and crashing ICE. It usually takes 15-20 kills per
Karma, so isn't very efficient. Doing easy beginner runs from Gunderson is a
very efficient way to get Karma. However, it is also extremely monotonous,
even more so than farming the Matrix. Completing Matrix runs (and not just
farming systems) also nets you pretty good Karma, but I think the best way to
get Karma is doing mid-level corp runs.
This is because there is only a small increase in difficulty between easy and
medium corp runs, while the latter net you twice as much cash and Karma. They
also go quickly and are quite fun. I avoid hard corp runs because the
increase in difficulty between medium and hard is quite steep. The other
types of runs (Ghoul Hunting, Enforcement, mid-level “fetch” runs, etc.) are
there if you like them, but they aren't the best ways to get Karma.
Avoid taking runs from Vigore & Jarl. They pay more money than other
Johnsons, but give less Karma. I also don't use Julius Strouther much,
because by the time you can get into Matchsticks without paying, you can
also get into Icarus Descending, and Caleb Brightmore offers better jobs than
Julius.
G. UPGRADING YOUR CYBERDECK
As I said, the Matrix is the best way to make money. However, it takes money
to make money, in the form of upgrading your cyberdeck. If you are
interested in farming the Matrix, get a good Decker (Phantom is moderately
expensive but well worth his price). Take an easy Matrix run, collect some
data, but don't complete the run. Jack out and sell that data to Roscoe the
Fixer in Downtown. Keep doing this and in short order you can afford to
upgrade your 'deck. Raise your Deception and Attack programs to 4 or 5 each.
After this, I recommend upgrading to the Fuchi Cyber-5 (MPCP 6). Upgrade
Response to 2, then slowly increase your deck's stats except for Sensors.
Aside from Attack and Deception, I don't recommend upgrading any other
programs except for maybe Sleaze.
Somewhere in here you can switch from easy Matrix systems to medium
difficulty ones. They are reasonably tougher, but the pay-data will usually
sell for around twice as much, while the run itself will net you 5 times as
much pay and a little more karma. Once your cyberdeck's stats are maxed,
it's time to upgrade again. I recommend buying the Fuchi Cyber-7 (MPCP 10).
You definitely do not need the expensive Fairlight Excalibur (MPCP 12). If
you'd rather save a little money, you can still take on hard systems with the
less expensive SEGA-CTY360 (MPCP 8).
Increase Response to 3 then upgrade your Attack and Deception programs some
more. You should also increase your stats, Masking to 10, Evasion to 8, and
Sensors to 5 (Body can stay at 6). You will need the Analyze and Slow
programs, but leave them at Rating 1. They are only there to feed to Tar Pit
ICE so it doesn't eat your high rating Attack program. Assuming your Computer
is around 7 or more, it won't be long before you can handle any and all of
the high level Matrix systems. For the high level systems, you want to steal
data from the Confidential Data nodes, as the data here is 4 to 6 times more
valuable than other nodes. You can also complete the CHERNOBYL side quest for
an extra 50,000 nuyen (see below).
I recommend upgrading only Attack and Deception because they are the most
useful programs. You can Deceive your way through the majority of ICE, and
you'll need Attack to crash anything you can't Deceive. All the other
programs have varying degrees of usefulness, but you can survive without
them. Sleaze is probably the best of the second tier programs because it has
a slightly higher success rate than Deception. However, with Sleaze you just
bypass the node and can't interact with it. It is useful in corp systems if
you're looking for a specific node quickly. I used to use Rebound a lot
because it combines attack and defense into one program, but no longer feel
it to be useful. Analyze seems like it should have been useful, but un-
fortunately it takes multiple uses to get any kind of data on the enemy ICE
and really isn't worth upgrading. The Sensor rating affects your Analyze
success rate, and also slightly helps when searching for files to download.
Because we aren't upgrading Analyze, it's not worth raising Sensor more than
a few points. You will also need Slow at Rating 1 to feed to Tar Pits, but
none of the other programs are worth purchasing.
6. ***** SO THE STORY GOES... ***** [xstory]
Shadowrun's storyline is fairly short and straightforward. However, it's
also well written and flexible. You can complete many of the story elements
in any order. You can also complete as many non-story runs as you like
before, during, or after completing story elements. I tend to level my
runners up doing generic runs before doing the storyline as it makes several
parts much easier.
A. QUICK WALKTHROUGH
For a more detailed walkthrough, see Eller's FAQ at
http://www.gamefaqs.com/genesis/366854-shadowrun/faqs/12296.
A) The Beginning
1) Earn enough money to get Michael's stuff from Stoker's Coffin Motel.
2) Find Tabitha Shale at Tarislar City Inn in Puyallup Barrens, learn
about Boris Erascoe.
3) Ask Erascoe in Redmond Barrens about Michael, get attacked by two
Renraku goons.
The next three sections can be done in any order. They can also be done con-
currently, meaning you don't have to finish one before starting the other
two. I tend to complete them in the order listed.
B) Deal with Renraku
1) Go to the Big Rhino and ask Mortimer Reed about Mako Sochou.
2) Find Mako at Club Penumbra, get attacked by four Renraku goons. Find
out about Ito Ogami.
3) Look for Ito at Gates Undersound.
4) Follow him to Matchsticks and kill him. You get the passcode to his
personal Matrix system.
5) Infiltrate Renraku and find the map overlay on the top floor.
C) Learn the identity of your enemy
1) Find Owlfeather in the Amerindian village. He asks you to rescue his
brother.
2) Find Aragorn's location, either from Mortimer Reed or the clue in
Mitsuhama's Matrix system.
3) Infiltrate Mitsuhama and rescue Aragorn.
4) Return to Owlfeather, who tells you to meet Spirit Eyes on Council
Island.
5) Get a Gargoyle Horn for Spirit Eyes
6) Get a Hell Hound Pelt for Spirit Eyes
7) Search the caves in the wilderness for Licourtrix and save him from
the Renraku Strike Team.
8) Return to Spirit Eyes and find out about THON.
D) Find Frosty
1) Talk to Caleb Brightmore at Icarus Descending, find out about Frosty.
2) Look for her at Tarislar City Inn, find out she's gone to the
wilderness.
3) Go to the Sinsearach (it's so much easier to have Sharkey fly you
there instead of walking) and ask to see the Elders. Agree to be
tested.
4) Find Red Buffalo Woman at the Amerindian village.
5) Return to Gillian Morningsong at the Sinsearach village.
6) Discover Ilene Two Fist's location, either from Caleb Brightmore or
the from the clues on the Ares and Hollywood networks.
7) Rescue Ilene from Hollywood.
8) Return to the Sinsearach elders and agree to join them.
E) The End
1) Ask the Sinsearach elders if you can meet Frosty. Find out about
Harlequin.
2) Meet Harlequin at Tarislar Garden Apartments.
3) Go to the Jump House and ask Gunderson about Vigore.
4) Go to the Rat's Nest and find Vigore's map.
5) Return to Harlequin. He will tell you to prepare for the final battle.
6) Return to Harlequin again and tell him you're ready.
7) You will be flown to Ellisia's tomb. Kill the goons outside then
proceed inside to face Thon.
And that's it! Like I said, the storyline is fairly short and straight-
forward, but well written and non-linear. Sadly, the game ending is not
particularly climactic. This is mostly because the Genesis was not capable
of a detailed, graphically pretty ending.
B. SIDE QUESTS
There are also two sidequests that can be done any time after The Beginning.
F) Find Stark
1) Find the remote hut in the wilderness.
2) Meet Dr. Haversheen at Seattle General Hospital.
3) Infiltrate Fuchi and retrieve the prototype cyber-heart.
4) Return to Dr. Haversheen at the hospital.
5) After this, you can hire Stark for free. He can be found at
Underground 93 in Puyallup Barrens
G) Stop the computer virus from destroying Shiawase nuclear plant
1) Downloading the five clues can be done in any order.
2) Download the clue from Aztechnology's system (can only be obtained
from a Hard Matrix run, since Aztechnology doesn't have a local
office for you to infiltrate).
3) Download the clue from Ares' system.
4) Download the clue from Mitsuhama's system.
5) Download the clue from Fuchi's system.
6) Download the clue from Renraku's system.
7) Access the CHERNOBYL system (which is actually UCAS Govt.). Download
a final clue that says you deleted the virus and saved the people of
Redmond. You get a congratulations from the developers and 50,000
nuyen (which is actually not a lot considering you can earn a lot
more from just farming the above 5 systems).
If you're interested in learning more about the world of Shadowrun, read
closely all the information you can get from contacts and NPC runners. Also,
look up info on the Shadowrun table-top RPG. It is now in its 4th edition,
with 5th edition just recently announced. This game was made using the 2nd
edition rules set, to which it is very faithful and accurate).
7. ***** CONTACT *****
This guide was written by Erik M., known as The_Key_of_E on GameFAQs.
Email: thekeyofe@gmail.com
Copyright permission is given to share or repost this FAQ as long as you
give me credit and don't claim ownership.

This document is copyright The_Key_of_E and hosted by Neoseeker with permission.